The Spanish Parliament passed a radical new abortion law Thursday that gets rid of religious freedom protections for pharmacists and other medical workers who object to killing unborn babies in abortions.
Under the new law, pharmacies in Spain must provide the morning-after pill, which may cause a very early abortion, and public hospitals must provide abortions, Christian Network Europe reports.
Pro-abortion lawmakers argued that Spain must restrict the religious freedom of medical workers because so many object to abortion, making it difficult for women to find abortionists willing to abort their unborn babies, according to the report.
In Spain, private abortion facilities do about 80 percent of all abortions; many hospitals and doctors’ offices refuse because they recognize that unborn babies are second patients who also deserve medical care, the report continues.
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Under the new law, any medical worker who does object to aborting unborn babies will have their name placed on a government registry of conscientious objectors, ACI Prensa reports.
Other parts of the new law get rid of informed consent requirements and three day waiting period for abortions, and allow girls as young as 16 to abort their unborn babies without a parent’s consent. Women with disabilities who are under the care of a legal guardian do not need their guardian’s consent anymore either.
Here’s more from the report:
The recently approved law also determines that having had an abortion is to be removed from the woman’s clinical history after five years. …
In addition, the morning-after pill will be available free of charge in outpatient clinics and in the new “public centers for specialized care in sexual and reproductive rights.”
Another of the law’s provisions is obligatory sex education based on gender ideology in all educational levels, promoting the use of contraceptives, sexual promiscuity, and same-sex relationships between people beginning in early childhood.
Pro-life organizations slammed the radical new law, saying more innocent lives will be destroyed throughout Spain.
“We denounce the elimination of the unborn child and the woman’s abandonment. There is no right to kill; there is a right to live,” the pro-life organization One of Us responded to the vote.
The Spanish arm of 40 Days for Life described the new law as “a death sentence for Spain,” saying lawmakers “failed us” by “applaud[ing] the law that takes away the right to life of so many innocents.”
Abortions are legal up to 14 weeks in Spain. The country also legalized euthanasia in 2021. Now, like most European countries, Spain is struggling with declining birth rates and an aging population.
Abortions destroy tens of millions of unborn babies’ lives every year across the world. Estimates vary, but one report puts the number of abortions in 2022 at 44 million worldwide. Assisted suicide and euthanasia that kill the elderly and people with disabilities also are growing problems, especially in North America and Europe.
